The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1887-04-12
A SPECIAL AGENTS STORY.
Row Car Seals Were Broken and Restored
Stealing Pretty Nearly Everything.


Stealing Pretty Nearly Everything.
PITTsBURG, April 11.-To Joseph Rue, spe-
cial agent of the Pennsylvania railroad, and de-
tective Gilkerson, of this city, is due all the
credit of running the thieves down. In an inter
view with Rue this afternoon the following ac-
count of the inception Of the robberies their
detection, the modus operandi of their execu-
tion, ETC.. was given by Mr.. Rte: 1.-TWO years
ago we decided to dispense with locks on the
cars, and introduced our present system of seals
The seal is of lead. is about the size of FIVE
cent piece, and is about one-eighth of an inch in
thickness. The wire used in connection with it
is of sxteenthnch iron WIRE There are curls in it
to prevent its being pulled through the lead seal
The method of using it is as follows Wire is
pushed through the SEAL then through the hasp
of the car door, then back through the seal
again, forming unbroken circle. An instru-
That in use, say in Pittsbure, stamps upon the
inverse side the letters Bg 'Tr,' and upon the
observe side 'P st. L., thus indicating that the
car is intact when it enters the p. c. & ST. L.
railroad, bound westward. The two wires
are embedded at the stroke as the letters
are imprinted. This understood, will give an
idea of the inception Of the robbery and Its dis
covery by the officials Of the road. Eastern
bound trains were not N olested; western bound
trains have been the sufferers. AS near as We
estimate it, these robbe.ies have been going
on for two years At first there was. timidity,
and they only occurred at long intervals; then,
daily growing bolder and more general, until
just lately every train was sufferer. We be-
came coenizant of the robberies through claims
submitted by New York to the road, on the
strength of their Western customers who made
allegations of broken packages both in bulk and
in severalty, the evidence in each case being
positive that the packages were opened in tran
sit. We were puzzled long tiine by the rob-
berries, as our reports from Western points
showed that the seals were always seemingly in
tact. For a long time we blamed the extrac-
tions of goods upon the roustabouts at Piers 81
and 2S in New York, and the Dock-street sta
tior at Philadelphia, as nearly all of our west
ern-bound freight was put in the cars at either
one or the other of these three
places. We employed detectives and all
imaginable devices, and found, finally, that
our employees at these points were above sus-
picion AZ / am in charge OF all crookedness on
our road east of Pittsburg, it then became my
duty To follow the robbers up TO this city. After
most exhaustive search of the entire division
of the Pennsylvania Railroad up to Pittsburg
came to the conclusion that the robberies were
committed west of Pittsburg. We then devoted
ourselves entirely to the western division. After
two months work found that the robberies
were committed between Pittsburg and Den
nison; that out of eighty crews seventy-five were
| practicing a great scheme of robbery. We were
badly stalled at first by the fact that the seals
on the cars were generally found intact when
the ears reached Columbus their way west
ward. Then commenced a system of espionage
on every mile of siding between here and Denni
son. Day and night the watch continued
! Meanwhile marked and decoy goods were used
We found that local freight was generally un
touched: that the robberiss committed or
| Unlon-line shipments. One dark night one o
| our brightest men stumbled against the mystery
| of the seals and the method by which they wer,
| successfully tampered with. Concealed behind
! car. he saw the freight crew come to a Union
| line The wire was pulled out of the seal
the door was thrown open and the entered
IN short time the men emerged carrying 10
| of plumber. They made off To the caboose and
the conductor pulled back the door, ran the wir,
through the seal where it had been pulled out
and with board struck it blow. The wir
went back 10 its place. the blow united the sof
Lead again without destroying the lettering OF
either side, and the seal apparently un
touched. / saw of these, and it onl,
by the closest scrutiny that person could de
tect the sign OF tampering with II. ALI thi
made clear, our course much easier. tn
individuals of these were each traces
down. and / may say here that closely wer
the stolen goods located, that out of all th
arrests we made last night and this morning
there was not one man but had stolen stui